Method for the longitudinal guidance of a vehicle in relation to a leading vehicle driving in front by using an electronic distance-keeping system, and distance-keeping system for a vehicle

Abstract

A method for longitudinal guidance of a vehicle relative to a leading vehicle driving in front by using an electronic distance-keeping system, includes providing an environmental parameter relating to an environment of the vehicle, providing a target distance at which the vehicle is intended to follow the leading vehicle, providing acceleration and/or braking information relating to the leading vehicle, assigning the leading vehicle to one of at least two different, predefined driving behavior classes based on the environmental parameter and the acceleration and/or braking information, and determining an at least temporarily permitted deviation from the target distance based on the assigned driving behavior class. The distance-keeping system is used to at least temporarily longitudinally guide the vehicle as following the leading vehicle based on the target distance and the permitted deviation. A distance-keeping system for a vehicle is also provided.

1 . A method for the longitudinal guidance of a vehicle in relation to a leading vehicle driving in front by using an electronic distance-keeping system, the method comprising steps of:
 a) providing an evaluation system with at least one environmental parameter relating to an environment of the vehicle;   b) providing the evaluation system with a target distance at which the vehicle is intended to follow the leading vehicle;   c) providing the evaluation system with at least one of acceleration or braking information relating to the leading vehicle driving in front of the vehicle;   d) using the evaluation system to assign the leading vehicle to one of at least two different, predefined driving behavior classes based on the environmental parameter and the at least one of acceleration or braking information;   e) using the evaluation system to determine an at least temporarily permitted deviation from the provided target distance based on the assigned driving behavior class of the leading vehicle; and   f) using the distance-keeping system to at least temporarily longitudinally guide the vehicle to follow the leading vehicle based on the target distance and the determined permitted deviation.   
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 1 , which further comprises providing, as the at least one of acceleration or braking information, at least one of:
 a number of changes in at least one of acceleration or braking operations in a time interval, or   a strength of at least one of the acceleration or braking during at least one of a braking operation or acceleration operation, or   a time difference between at least one of acceleration or braking operations, or   a ratio of a duration of an acceleration operation to a duration of a braking operation.   
     
     
         3 . The method according to  claim 1 , which further comprises guiding the vehicle longitudinally based on the determined deviation by setting dynamic parameters of the electronic distance-keeping system. 
     
     
         4 . The method according to  claim 1 , which further comprises assigning the leading vehicle to one of the at least two driving behavior classes at least one of after a specified time interval or after a predefined frequency for an occurrence of the environmental parameter. 
     
     
         5 . The method according to  claim 1 , which further comprises carrying out the assignment in step d) based on an exceedance frequency of predefined limit values for values of the at least one of acceleration or braking information for a predefined environmental parameter. 
     
     
         6 . The method according to  claim 1 , which further comprises providing the evaluation system with a route parameter, and determining the deviation based on the route parameter. 
     
     
         7 . The method according to  claim 1 , which further comprises using the evaluation system to predict a value for the at least one of acceleration or braking information of the leading vehicle for a provided environmental parameter, and determining the deviation in step f) based on the prediction. 
     
     
         8 . The method according to  claim 1 , which further comprises checking whether or not a current leading vehicle is identical to a previously followed leading vehicle. 
     
     
         9 . The method according to  claim 1 , which further comprises adapting an assignment rule for assigning one of the driving behavior classes of the at least two driving behavior classes, based on an acceleration of the vehicle. 
     
     
         10 . A distance-keeping system for a vehicle, the distance-keeping system comprising:
 an evaluation system configured to carry out the method according to  claim 1 .